


A Day in the Life of Lois Lane

by crazyfangirl221b



Series: A Universe Made of Stars [4]
Category: Superman - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 19:25:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10748217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyfangirl221b/pseuds/crazyfangirl221b
Summary: Lois is used to this kidnapping thing, and it has its uses.Clark is not used to kidnapping at all, and he might be right.





	1. Chapter 1

Lois Lane was definitely not in over her head. No way. No how.

 

So what if she’d been kidnapped by a megalomaniacal supervillain? Those things happen. And besides it’s about the third best way she knows to get a good scoop.

 

So what if she’s being held in a lead lined room? It’s in LexCorp, hardly inescapable. Once she gets out of the room she can get security to throw her out of the building then take a cab to the Daily Planet.

 

So what if she’d been handcuffed to a railing? That’s what lock picks are for! Luthor’s cleverer than most villains, but no man on earth would think to suspect an underwire. Although it is a little awkward to reach.

 

So what if Clark was…

 

Oh, dear.

 

“Hey Smallville, you look like you’re about to puke.” Lois said, poking her fellow captive with her toe.

 

“I will not be swayed by your false illnesses,” Lex said with a sneer. “When the alien arrives to save you, he will be destroyed!” He brandished the Kryptonite in his hand while subtly nudging a small metal trashcan toward Clark.

 

“Hey! Kent doesn’t get kidnapped nearly enough to get used to it.” Lois turned so that it looked like she was trying to comfort him, but actually it hid her hands from Luthor. “Why did you grab him anyway?”

 

“I ran a scientific analysis on all articles written about Superman and found that you and he wrote the most by far!” Lex answered smugly.

 

The real reason dawned on Lois. “Did the analysis account for the fact that there are only two reputable newspapers based in Metropolis? Ever heard of the ‘home court advantage?’ Did you look at a control group of articles  not about Superman?”

Lex faltered, his eyes opened wider and his mouth dropped slightly. “Well…” he faltered then his hesitation faded to anger. “It was a very scientific analysis!” he shouted.

   


“Riiiiiight,” Lois said sarcastically, drawing out the noise to mask the click of the lock opening, “Then explain that.” She nodded to the nothing behind him.

As she expected he whipped around to see and put his back to her. Lois grabbed the conveniently placed trashcan and threw. It connected with his head with a very satisfying clang. Luthor stumbled forward, giving Lois time to rush him and tackle him to the ground.

   


His forehead hit the concrete floor with a smack and he was out cold. If he were anyone else Lois would feel bad about giving him a concussion, but he’s a jerk and “he started it” is apparently called “self-defense” by the lawyers. As if she ever needed defending.

 

Lois went back over to the rail and picked up her lock picks. She started to pick the lock on Kent’s cuffs, but he was lying so still she felt she’d better check his pulse first.

 

“Come on, Smallville.” Lois muttered shaking his shoulder. “Did you  actually faint?”

 

Before her unconscious friend could answer or be further bedeviled, a red-caped hero came crashing through the wall.

 

“Jimmy?” Supergirl called frantically, then visibly slumped. “Not Jimmy.”

 

“Lois, Clark, Idiot” Lois said gesturing to herself, Clark, and Luthor in turn. “Not Superman,” she pointed at Supergirl.

 

“Not unless he’s started wearing a skort.” Supergirl said, as she floated to the floor and tried to catch her breath. “Is there Kryptonite in here?”

 

“Oh right!” Lois grabbed the rock from where it had fallen and tucked it under some of the debris from the lead wall. “Better?”

 

“Much,” Supergirl sighed. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Jimmy Olsen?”

 

“Oh, did he get kidnapped today, too?” Lois sighed as Supergirl nodded. “Must be Thursday.”

 

They were interrupted by a small moan from the corner, as Clark began to regain consciousness.

 

“Oh, yeah. Kent fainted, can you get him medical attention? And maybe open that door?” Lois suggested.

 

Supergirl broke off his cuffs to answer. “Are you sure you don’t want me to just fly you to the Planet?”

 

Lois shook her head. “I’m going to grab Luthor’s laptop from his office. See what he’s been up to.”

 

Supergirl smirked, and ripped the door off of its hinges. “If you find Jimmy before I do, give me a shout.”

 

“Hey, how did you find us anyway.” Lois called as Supergirl picked up Clark.

 

“Oh, I was right outside when I heard the fight from outside. I’m checking every lead lined room in Metropolis. Only 6 left!” Supergirl answered with a smile.

 

“Huh,” Lois muttered, “I guess that makes sense.” Then she grabbed Luthor’s access card from his pocket and went a-snooping.

 

A While Later…

 

“... uncovered second largest bribery scandal in Gotham History!” Clark bragged to Bruce Wayne underneath the “Congratulations Lois” banner that hung from the newsroom ceiling.

 

“Very impressive,” Bruce nodded as Lois walked over. “Not many reporters get two Pulitzers.”

 

“Not many reporters get one,” replied Lois, nudging Clark with her elbow.

 

“Hey I was there too! Sort of...” Clark protested.

 

“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.

 

“Well, I…” Clark adjusted his tie. “That is to say...”

 

“He fainted.” Lois interrupted. “Not everyone is as used to kidnapping as you and me.”

 

“Timeout,” Clark said looking rapidly between the two, “how do you know he’s used to kidnapping?”

 

“It was, what, three years ago.” Lois turned to Bruce, who nodded. “I was doing that piece on Arkham, and Bruce was kind enough to show me around and we got taken hostage by Two-Face.”

 

“The coin came up good.” Bruce reassured Clark, who looked worried. “We were never in any major danger.”

 

Clark did not look reassured so Lois chimed in. “I got a killer exclusive and, if anything had gone wrong, Batman wasn’t too far away.”

 

Clark started at that and stared at Bruce, wide-eyed. Bruce just took a sip of his drink with a faux air of innocence.

 

Many While’s, and Wiles Later...

 

Lois sat bolt upright in bed, disturbing her lover who lay beside her. “You didn’t faint!”

 

“What?” Clark asked sleepily.

 

“My story for the second Pulitzer. We got kidnapped by Luthor and he had kryptonite and you fainted! Except you didn’t faint, you got Kryptonite poisoning!” Lois wrapped her arms round his chest, remembering how still he’d been. “I suddenly understand why you get worried when I tell you about things that have already happened.”

 

“Yes, dear.” Clark kissed her forehead. “Now will you be safe?”

 

Lois looked into his eyes and allowed herself a small smile. “Will you?”

 

Clark didn’t answer, he didn’t have to. They both knew each other's answer, and neither wanted to speak it aloud. He wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep holding each other and didn’t let go until morning.

 


	2. A Day in the Life of Jimmy Olsen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimmy Olsen is in mortal danger and he hasn't even had lunch yet. Not really how his day was supposed to be going.

Some days you're taking pictures of Superman taking on giant robots. Other days you're taking pictures of the waterfront. Perry wanted a story on The Rebuilding of Metropolis, and insisted that they couldn't just reuse the photos from the last reconstruction.

Jimmy's stomached growled and pulled out his phone to check the time. About ten minutes before he needs to meet Clark's cute cousin for lunch. He began to pack his things until he was interrupted by a very hard shove.

"Hey!" Jimmy shouted, trying to regain his balance without stepping on his camera bag. "What's the big idea?"

"He's taking pictures!" a very large man called to his friend, then turned to glare at Jimmy. “And you’re no tourist!"

“I work for the Daily Planet.” Jimmy said irritably, gesturing to the badge clipped to his pocket. “I’m taking pictures for a story.”

“I’ll give you a story,” the man pulled out a gun.

It was at this point Jimmy noticed the oddly corpse shaped tarp lying near the second man. He swallowed hard, and suggested with a shaky voice, “How about: ‘Local “Photographer has a Very Boring Day’?”

The man laughed, looked at his friend, looked back at Jimmy, raised his hand, and after a few seconds of pain, everything went black.

When Jimmy woke up he to find a rope wrapped several times around his chest, tying him to a chair. This wasn’t the first time he’d been tied to a chair, it wasn’t the most uncomfortable chair, and it wasn’t even with decent knots. This was, however, the first time Miss Lane had nothing to do with the situation.

Usually this is when he’d start complaining and she’d start giving him advice on how to escape from that sort of situation. Jimmy swore to himself that the next time he’d actually listen. He couldn’t remember anything. Except that one time she escaped by breaking the chair.

Jimmy experimentally pushed on the floor with his toes. Nothing. He craned his neck to see the legs of the chair and found they were bolted to the floor. He wondered if rocking side to side could loosen them.

Throwing his weight to his right with all the force he could muster, he landed hard on the floor. Blinking through the dust cloud he had raised, he realized two things. The first was that the knot had been even worse than he had thought. The second was that he had a headache and probably a concussion.

The third thing he realized, after getting to his feet, was that he was very nauseous and very, very glad he hadn’t eaten lunch.

He stumbled across the room to the table that held his stuff. Carefully removing his camera from its bag, he checked for damage in the low light. Then he almost dropped it as he yelped in surprise as the door slammed open.  
“How’d he get out of the rope?” a booming voice echoed through the small room. “Never mind. Hey you!” The towering man turned to Jimmy. “This room is lead lined, Superman-proof, so don’t get any ideas about escaping me.” This man also had a gun, as did the half a dozen men behind him.

In the face of certain death, Jimmy did what he always did. He raised his camera to his eye and clicked the shutter. He supposed that the close-up pictures of Superman punching giant robots into orbit, or of Wonder Woman holding up a collapsing building, must look more dramatic, but if this is how he dies…

Jimmy’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of tearing metal as the wall was ripped apart by Supergirl. She paused for a moment as dust filled the air, sunlight streaming in from behind her, turning her into a silhouette. Surrounded by the rubble of the building she had torn through to save him, beams of visible heat shot from her eyes to melt shut the outer door, trapping the criminals in the bunker with her.

Jimmy, with his camera still pressed to his eye, pressed the shutter again.

The men opened fire and she threw the wall she was holding at them. Jimmy looked through his lens as they scrambled away and cowered. He took another picture.

Supergirl moved faster than any eye could see and pressed the loose chunk of wall across the open door. Again she welded them in with her heat vision, and again Jimmy stood in awe at her strength and took another picture.

Supergirl curled down the top of her wall six inches, enough for air to travel freely, but not the prisoners. Jimmy zoomed in his camera to catch a photo of her leaving handprints in the metal.

As the dust settled, she turned to him. Features muted by the gray concrete dust, a smudge of soot across her nose, and her eyes full of worry she asked at almost a whisper, “Are you okay?”

If her power had taken his breath away, the dichotomy of this weakness returned it to him. He lowered the camera, accidently pressing the shutter as he set it down. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said with a grin, “I might have a concussion, though.”

Her eyes went wide, “You have to go to a hospital!”

Jimmy shrugged. “I have to get these pictures to Perry.” He saw the look on her face and winced internally. “You can take me to the hospital after that.”

“What is it with the reporters in this city?” Supergirl muttered.

Jimmy knew exactly who she was talking about. “You should meet reporters in Gotham.” He said as he packed his things.

Supergirl gave an exaggerated shutter. “I’ve met some Gothamites and I have no desire to meet the ‘hard core’ version.”

 

Later at the Planet building, Supergirl insisted on waiting around to make sure Jimmy got to the hospital. Perry needed to review the pictures and invited her into his office.

“So this is the last one of the construction,” Jimmy explained to Perry, “I guess you really can see a bit of the body they were dumping in the corner of it.”

Perry and Supergirl shared a look of horror and concern. Jimmy remained oblivious.

“Oh and these are the guys who kidnapped me.” Jimmy said, far too casually. “This one is Supergirl coming in, and then these two are her capturing the bad guys.” He finished his presentation proudly.

Supergirl stared at the pictures of a shadowed figure with glowing eyes, at the man in the picture with his eyes wide and his mouth open, frozen in silent fear. “Is this how people see me?” She asked, barely audible.

Perry and Jimmy shared a silent moment as they thought, for the first time, not of how the pictures would look in a newspaper, but just of how they looked. Perry put a hand on Supergirl’s shoulder while Jimmy scrambled for a picture he hoped had been taken.

“No, no,” Jimmy reassured her. “It’s like this.”

He showed her the last picture on the camera. It showed a blond girl looking directly into the camera, covered in dust and surrounded by rubble. Her expression full of concern, she was reaching out her hand, and clearly helping the photographer. The Super S was only half visible and the framing was a little crooked, but as soon as Perry saw it he knew.

“That’s the one we lead with.” He said with a quiet confidence and definite finality. “Get Clark to do the interviews and the write-up. And Jimmy,” Perry said as Jimmy stepped toward the door, “I can already tell we’ll be reusing this picture.”


End file.
